tinsel

The noun is derived from Middle English tinsel (“cloth containing gold or silver thread”) [and other forms], probably from Anglo-Norman tincel, tincelle, tencele, and then: * from Old French estincelle, estencele (“a spark”) (modern French étincelle), from Vulgar Latin *stincilla, a metathesis of Latin scintilla (“a glimmer; a spark”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱeh₁y- (“to shimmer, shine”); and * from Old French estincelé, the past participle of estinceler, estenceler (“to produce sparks”) (modern French étinceler (“to sparkle, twinkle; (archaic) to produce sparks”)), from Vulgar Latin *stincillāre, a metathesis of Latin scintillāre, the present active infinitive of scintillō (“to scintillate, sparkle”), from scintilla (“a glimmer; a spark”) (see above) + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs). The English word is a doublet of scintilla, scintillate, and stencil. The adjective is from an attributive use of the noun; while the verb is derived from the noun.